Obama Should Thank BP

Thursday, 17th June 2010

Well, up to a point. Too Big To Fail is a phrase we often hear these days and one that by now you may well be bored by. We don't hear much about its companion: Big Enough To Fail.

But that would seem to be the case with BP and the Gulf of Mexico. Even amongst oil companies there aren't many - Exxon, Chevron, Shell and a handful of others - who'd have the resources or revenues to cope with a disaster of this magnitude. BP is one of the select few. And even then it may be a damned close run thing.

That doesn't mean all is fine and dandy with BP or excuse its appallingly ham-fisted press operation but it's a reminder, perhaps, that this situation, catastrophic as it may be, could be much worse. Especially for the American taxpayer - and for an administration that might, in other circumstances, have been forced to "own" the spill much earlier and much more completely than has been the case with BP.

Filed under: Obama (365 more articles) , Oil (25 more articles)

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Cuffleyburgers

June 17th, 2010 4:54pm Report this comment

Alex (and others)

We have seen plenty of comment regarding Obama's out-of-order pronouncements on this story but precious little informed impartial analysis of how the accident occurred, and why, and who failed to do what, and when.

For example the clean up has been hampered by delays by the US to accept certain types of eurpean skimmer vessel. How much oil has actually come ashore? (and how much has been recovered?) How many miles (or feet) of coastline have actually been rendered black? Reading betwwen the lines and other blogs on egets the feeling that not as many as Obama would like (on the Martin McGuiness principle of victory being measured in terms of the number of dead bog-siders).

yank

June 17th, 2010 8:14pm Report this comment

Cuffley,

It's not the blackened beaches themselves. BP will clean that right up, no doubt, some now, all later. And Mother Gaia will make it so that you barely know it ever happened, in just a few short years.

It's the economic costs that are of concern, and those spread inland a piece. BP would (rightly) like to pay those who are at a loss, and (equally rightly), do so without enriching the golddiggers.